This invention pertains to surgical instruments, particularly to ultrasonic instrument assemblies and more particularly to such instrument assemblies with a sheath.
Ultrasonic surgical instruments including incising instruments such as bone cutters and tissue cleaners of debriders are usually provided with sheaths that surround respective vibration-bearing shafts and define therewith channels for the passage of cooling liquid and/or suction for debris removal. Typically, such ultrasonic surgical instruments have probes or shafts that formed with a bend for rendering the instruments more ergonomic, that is, facilitative of accessing various surgical sites. The sheaths are generally rigid in part for maintaining the integrity of the flow channels but also for preventing or minimizing contact between the sheaths and the vibrating shafts, which may have an untoward effect on the sheaths. However, where an instrument shaft has a bend, it is in the interests of manufacturing expediency to provide a flexible connector at the bend. Such a connector joins two rigid sections of sheath, a proximal section and a distal section.